Then my team played our last flag football game of the season. It was 50-something degrees with 20+ mph winds and somewhere between drizzle and teeming rain. Ever since high school and rainy water polo games (yes, east coast people, we always played outdoors), I've thought rain makes any game more epic. But even though this was a playoff game, this just felt fun. The team we played was from our year and we all knew each other. Everyone was cold, drenched and just wanted to put in our hour on the field and go warm up at home.
But home is not where I went. Tonight was our weekly volunteer evening at the juvenile detention center. So I dug out a towel from the trunk of my car*, changed into drier clothes and headed over to the facility to spend some time with a very different set of kids than the ones I had taught this morning. Though I love giving my little cancer spiel for CEAP, playing games with the kids at the detention facility is probably more fun and possibly more rewarding for everyone involved.
TIL: (and I am literally looking this up right now so that I have something to show for the day, knowledgewise) Elephantiasis is caused by the parasite Wuchereria bancrofti. These roundworms are introduced into the bloodstream by a mosquito bite and then travel to lymph nodes to mature, mate and reproduce. After repeated cycles of reproduction, the dead remains of older generations of worms block the lymphatic drainage resulting in edema (swelling) of the lower extremities and scrotum (on persons with scrotums).
Also learned elephantiasis is called elephantiasis not elephantitis. Just now.
♒☆ The more you know! ♒☆
*This is one frood who always knows where his towel is.
No comments:
Post a Comment